A/N: Previously posted on AO3, but I thought I would post here as well. Thanks for any and all comments!
Danny had built up a full head of steam by the time he reached Tripler Army Medical Hospital. He had been on his way into work after dropping Grace off at school when Chin called him in the car. "McGarrett was ambushed!" Chin announced breathlessly.
"What the hell!" Danny shouted. "What happened?"
Chin told Danny everything he knew about White contacting Steve to help transport a sick man from Pearl/Hickam to Tripler, drafting him to help with security, and the details of the avian flu issue. Then Chin explained the ambush, White and Steve being hurt and Steve taking off after the kidnappers but only finding their abandoned van.
The only problem with what Chin was telling him was he wasn't sure how badly either Steve or White had been hurt. Danny had seen his friend do amazing things while badly injured so he was definitely worried.
'Joe White! Goddamn Joe White' Danny thought to himself. 'Why couldn't he have just stayed in Montana or Colorado or Mars or wherever the hell he lived when he wasn't around making McGarrett's life, and by extension Danny's life, a living hell?'
A hell filled with lies, dodges, insincere attempts at playing on Steve's sympathies and reminding him of their "camaraderie" and finishing up with more lies. Danny regretted ever calling White for help when Steve was in prison.
Danny had always ranted out loud when he was upset, but since teaming up with Steve McGarrett, he had developed a very bad habit of ranting at himself in his own head. The end result of this was that usually by the time Danny was ready to open his mouth and say something to Steve or one of his teammates about whatever the insane issue of the day was, rather than sounding reasonable and rational, he would already be way past upset and into absolutely crazed territory.
As a result of this, his comments generally came off as hostile and occasionally downright vicious. After he had a chance to calm down, he normally cringed at the memories of some of the things his mouth let loose with, such as when Steve had left Grace so he could chase down his stolen Marquis.
Today was no exception. By the time he found Steve and Joe White in the ER, he had worked himself into a froth of worry and frustration and didn't even bother asking if they were all right, which Steve made sure to point out in his own sarcastic style.
On top of that, the subject matter of this case was cataclysmic. It made him want to grab Grace and run as far away from everything as humanly possible. But, he figured Steve would just follow and find them wherever they went anyway.
It was probably best for the sake of his and McGarrett's friendship that he ended up paired with Kono during most of this case.
By the time the van with Joe and the bees in it went rocketing off the end of the pier, Danny's heart was in his throat. He was sure White was dead, and he just knew that he would spend the next year putting Steve back together over that.
He was so shocked when Joe's little bald head popped up out of the water, absolutely all right. Well, possibly infected with a potentially incurable and lethal bird flu, but otherwise, yeah, all right.
Danny just knew that it wouldn't be long before he would be wishing that the bees had gotten to Joe.
Later, at the hospital, when Steve handed him the laptop and explained his plan to mount some sort of surveillance on Joe, Danny knew that the crazy had come home to roost. He wished Steve could just let Doris stay under whatever rock she had crawled into. He was surprised that Steve even had it in him to lie to Joe.
He was also well aware that the only way for Steve to get the closure he was looking for was to put the screws to Joe so he could finally flush Doris out.
If anyone could succeed, Danny was damn sure old reliable Commander (Ret.) Joe White, United States Navy SEAL would be able to come through. God help them all.